a few were made before the money ran out and the company was bought by a major shareholder John Daniel and re-registered as Hampton Engineering Co (1920) Ltd. In 1925 a receiver was appointed yet again, but Hampton bounced back again as Hampton Cars (London) Ltd with finance from businessman John Hatton-Hall. The company moved to smaller premises on Selsley Hill, before ceasing production just before World War II. Present day Dudbridge today is a mixed industrial and housing development, with the industry towards the foot of the valley on one side of the A419 road, while the housing rises higher up towards Rodborough. Redevelopments of the late 1990s brought about the building of a major Sainsbury's supermarket, serving southern Stroud and onwards to Stonehouse. Damien Hirst's SCIENCE art production facility lies within the area. Along with most of Stroud, Dudbridge has low levels of burglary, theft of motor vehicles, with numbers of serious and fatal road traffic accidents lower than the county average. The percentage of young offenders resident in the area and of children with low scores at key stages 1–3, are also below the Stroud and county averages. Transport Being low in the Stroud Valleys, and an already formed crossing point, Dudbridge was a natural point of congregation for transport. The Stroudwater Canal opened a wharf in 1779 in Dudbridge, while in 1886 the Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway, later part of the Midland Railway, opened a railway station. Opened as "Dudbridge for Stroud," the buildings included a two-storey station-master's house, and though there was originally only a single platform, the station was a passing place on the single-track branch line. In 1885, the Midland Railway built a very short branch line from Dudbridge to Stroud. The new line opened for goods traffic in 1885 and for passengers the following year, at which point Dudbridge became a junction station, and a second platform was built. Passenger services were suspended on the line as an economy measure to save fuel in June 1947, and were officially withdrawn from 8 June 1949. Dudbridge remained open for goods traffic until 1966, when the Beeching cuts closed the line. The station building remained until the early 1990s, when it was demolished to make way for the route of the Ebley Bypass. References External links Dudbridge at Digital Stroud Stroud District